Where have all the good times gone?
by LAB Rats
Summary: songfic- Where have all the good times gone? Written AU post-war. If things had been worse before they got better.


Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter, or the song.

Where have all the good times gone

_See the changes here on every street  
As time goes marching to a different beat  
Moving on into the restless age  
As the kids today find their feet  
(long enough to hold on)  
_

Those who had been there for the old war watched as children...no, their children, faced the same enemy they had so long ago. They watched as children- their children- fell to the same enemy. But it was too late. Anyone from the old war who could fight had already joined in. Probably fallen. Those new kids barely knew anything, but they were passionate about it. That one in the lead seemed to know what he was doing. Barely. But none of the new fighters seemed to last longer then it took for them to get used to it. But the one on the lead, he never seemed to fall. Or get used to it.

_Young enough to chase our dreams  
We were captured by romantic things  
Touched by love until it made us cry  
How our hearts could fly without wings  
_

They think that, because we're better, we'll win. Better because we don't take pleasure in this. Better because we're the light side. But they don't understand that we fall as easily as they do. More easily, because we don't use the worse spells they do. We were once them, the ones that ran into battle so sure of our survival because we were good, they weren't.

_Oh won't somebody tell me  
Tell me where have all the good times gone  
Say that you remember  
Remember all those good old four tops songs  
Won't somebody tell me  
Where have all the good times gone  
_  
Where have the good times gone? The children used to sit in the family room and they would laugh, they were happy. Now, the only laughs you get are when someone suggests (again) that all they needed to do to kill Voldemort was have Harry hug him, since the power the dark lord knows not is love.

Harry had told his 'council' after Voldemort had gotten it. Figured they should know.

_Stolen moments in the smoky room  
Monday mornings that would come too soon  
Crazy summers that would never end  
When the time was spent loving you  
(yeah we had a good time)  
_  
Anyone that decided to pursue a romantic relationship was quick about it. You don't have time to plan for a month in the future, so it's dinner tonight, breakfast tomorrow, and so on. You didn't have time for another date if you planned them at one a week. You might not have time for it if you planned for tomorrow, so you took your time now.

The relationships would not last- no matter how much everyone wanted them to.

Where have all the good times gone, that we have to hide that the book we are reading this moment is not a tactics guide, not a DADA book...it's a book of poetry, or storybook, or something...

_Some things never seem to last  
Ain't it funny how we missed the past  
Love has changed but the clock still turns  
While the flame still burns for you  
_

There was a time when they weren't at war. Right? But they don't remember. Can't reminisce now. It's too late. Too late for everything. It didn't last. Not this time. Hopefully the war won't either. But who knows? IT's been going on for a long time anyway. It wouldn't be as easy as they think to just...end it.

_They've gone away  
Gone they've gone away  
Gone they've gone away  
They've gone away  
_  
They've all died. They shouldn't have though. They weren't supposed to. I know that they promised not to. The list of the dead was supposed to remain short, but it didn't. It got longer and longer and never stopped growing, which was hard on those that remained behind. They ended up being those who had to carry stories on to the children. Your parents...you aunt...your uncle...he didn't live because he was protecting you. She died because she was protecting someone else. She died because the evil men got her. How many times do you say that before you stop wanting to tell them again?

_It's hard enough to lose the game  
And sad to see it played again  
What makes you happy for a while  
Is gonna make you smile through the rain  
_  
It didn't work. They lost the war. They couldn't call it a win with their world in shards like it was. Purebloods who weren't with Voldemort had hidden away, protecting themselves that way. Those who were with him, or had relatives with him, were too scared to show their faces. It happened with halfbloods and muggleborns. No one wanted to admit what had happened...or what should have happened, but didn't. The world had separated like oil, water, and mud. The Purebloods had little to do with the world they were once part of. Halfbloods tried so hard to piece it all back together. The Muggleborns tried to just keep up with the world that wasn't what they had learned about. They wanted to be wizards, but they also didn't want to have to face the problems in the world they had joined.

That wasn't a win.

That could never be a win.

Not when each member of this world...

Not when each member of what's left of this world, has memorized a list of the dead that's longer then the list of those alive.

Or rather, longer then the list of those whose bodies moved still.

No one came out unmarked.

And sometimes the injuries are deeper then the skin.

And sometimes it wasn't solved by a simple cheering charm, or getting drunk and pouring out your woes.

Or taking emotions out on a target Dummy.

But that's not to say they didn't try.

_Won't you please tell me where have all the good times gone?_

The world didn't have the smiles it used to. Do you remember the smiles? When they could laugh because Neville blew up his potion? Wait...don't bring up Neville. His son is here. He can't remember the man, but it still hurt to hear about him.

What about when Lav-no. Not her either. Those old laughs are gone because the people are gone.

Where have all the good times gone?

When can we have them back?

I wish this had never happened...

I wish Voldemort had just stopped...

I wish we could have stopped him sooner...

But we didn't...

And the war came...

And now we have nothing to smile about. Because there is only so much we can stand to laugh at when there is so much to cry over.

The war is over.

But we lost.


End file.
